False Hopes, False Promises, and Distorted Numbers

There is much false hope and bravado being thrown around right now in the Democratic race. After last night, where Hillary Clinton scored big comeback victories in Ohio, Rhode Island and the Texas primary (although they are still counting the caucus votes, which account for 1/3 of the delegate total for the state, so counting Hillary as the 'Winner of Texas' might be a bit premature...CNN!). Barack Obama carried the smaller Vermont, leaving him not completely outpaced on the night.

Now the false hope I spoke of is coming directly from Clinton and her crack team of advisers, calling this the victory to end all victories and saying basically that we might as well call the election now, because Hillary managed to score 2 1/2 primaries after Obama rolled up 12 in a row.

The reality of the situation is that Clinton, last night, didn't resurrect her campaign, she merely got a stay of execution. Obama is still ahead by roughly the same amount of delegates as before the day began, and after the Texas caucuses are actually finished counting their ballots...28 hours and going now, argh...he may even come out with a net gain in delegates.

At best, Hillary only picked up ground by no more than a dozen. And when the one leading the way is up by about 150...that's just not math that's going to work in your favor. Especially when these two states, Ohio and Texas, held the biggest chunk of delegates for the rest of the string.

Clinton will need to pick up somewhere in the neighborhood of 65% - 70% of every single contest left, and then she make squeak out a narrow delegate victory, but unless we find out Obama has a coke and hooker fetish, that in no way is going to happen, even in the rosiest of circumstances.

What the political heads are talking about now is Hillary going for a momentum type victory at the convention and getting the superdelegates to overturn the will of the primary and caucus voters and make her the nominee because, I guess, they know better than a plurality of the general public...? I can't even begin to imagine the cries of subversion of democracy if that were to happen.

So basically, it comes down to this. Hillary in no way can become the Democratic nominee unless the will of the people is suppressed for a candidate that has more connections within the Democratic Party than the other one on the ballot. this can't happen, and the heavyweights of the Democratic Party hopefully recognize this as well, because it will lead to nothing more than a divided party, and a disenfranchised electorate, who will feel, rightly, that the last year and half we have spent on this marathon, rollercoaster of a campaign will be for absolutely nothing.

Powerful members of the Democratic Party, such as Bill Richardson, have said whoever is ahead in the delegate count come the convention should be the nominee, because it was the will of the voters of their party. Obama is also rumored to have more than 50 superdelegates he is waiting to unveil at the right time, although the results yesterday may temper that a bit, if not for more than a week or two.

I think this campaign is really set to get dirty now, as Obama has come out swinging today, questioning why Clinton has not disclosed her tax returns, as he has, questioning what she has to hide. I think he is set to go on the offensive like he has not done this campaign, and I think it is time to do so. I don't like that this campaign is going into the gutter, but honestly, Hillary Clinton took this thing there in the first place, and he needs to sling some mud back at her.

Obama took a beating going into Ohio and Texas, and it cost him big time. It cost him the chance to wrap this thing up once and for all. It won't happen again. Obama has shown the ability to grow, change, toughen and adapt during this campaign, at an amazing rate, and I expect him to do so now as well. This race is only still on because Hillary Clinton thinks she can pull off a miracle and grab more than 2/3 of the vote the rest of the way. Well, all I have to say about that, is that Mike Huckabee thought the same thing...

There is one more thing, a growing controversy about the Clinton campaign darkening Obama's skin and widening his nose in a recent television ad. There is blatant proof, that I will post up here shortly, and its work that could not have been done accidentally, or relatively quickly. It would have been a concerted effort, by the Clinton campaign, as it was an official ad, to make Obama appear 'blacker' to the American public. That, my friends, is not change, that's Karl Rove style bullshit.